Premier League giants Arsenal and Liverpool were both interested in the same striker this summer but both of them failed to sign him.
Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres has attracted the attention of some of the biggest clubs in the world after his brilliant performances for the Portuguese club.
In 33 league matches last season, the Swedish striker scored 29 goals and provided 10 assists, in his career best season.
As per Football Insider, the Gunners wanted to sign the prolific attacker this summer to bolster their attack and they were facing competition from their Premier League rivals Liverpool to sign him.
The striker’s move did not materialise due to his high release clause of £86 million, which put off interested clubs from signing him.
He has started the new season just like he ended the last season, by scoring seven goals in just four league matches.
Gyokeres has admitted that Sporting were asking too much money for him and that priced him out of a move to a bigger club.
Speaking to Sport Bladet, he said:
“They (Sporting) wanted most of the starting players to stay and held us tight. That’s how it turned out, but I enjoy Sporting very much, so for me it was no problem to stay.
“Of course. You want to play at the highest level. It (his €100m release clause) was probably a bit too much because nothing came of it. Of course it’s a lot of money. But we’ll see what happens next window…
“Nothing happened and it feels like I had a pretty good season. So yes, that’s probably why there was simply no move. But that’s what Sporting thinks I’m worth, and then you have to respect that.
“I enjoy myself very much in Sporting and can’t complain about anything, so it’s absolutely no problem for me to stay. Of course, you aim to test other leagues and a higher level, but I have no stress.”
The striker has claimed that he is happy at Sporting at the moment and he has no problem to stay at the club.
However, he has the ambition to move to a bigger league to join a bigger club in the future to test himself at the highest level.
Arsenal need a new striker more than Liverpool
It remains to be seen if Arsenal will move for him next year as they have still not signed a new striker.
Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard are the options Mikel Arteta have in his attack.
As for Liverpool, they have Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez while the newly signed Federico Chiesa has the ability to play through the middle.
Among the two clubs, it feels like the Gunners are more desperate to sign someone like Gyokeres.